Megabus (United Kingdom)

Megabus (United Kingdom)

A Megabus double-decker makes a stop in Manchester on the M11 to Glasgow.
Slogan	Low cost inter city bus travel
Parent	Stagecoach
Founded	2003
Headquarters	10 Dunkeld Road, Perth, PH1 5TW Scotland[1]
Locale	UK
Service area	Great Britain
Service type	Intercity coach service
Routes	19
Destinations	41 (jurisdictions served)
Hubs	London (Victoria Coach Station), Perth (Broxden Park & Ride), Glasgow (Bus Station) Aberdeen (Union Square)
Operator	Stagecoach Group (some Scotland routes operated through Scottish Citylink)
Chief executive	Brian Souter
Web site	Megabus

Megabus (also sometimes branded as megabus.com and Megabusplus) is a UK coach service operated by Stagecoach Group. It started in 2003 and as of February 2010 operated 19 UK coach routes serving 41 destinations in England, Scotland and Wales. Some services link with Megatrain services which are also operated by Stagecoach. Advertised fares start at £1, with a 50p booking fee using a yield management model.

Overview

Megabus (branded as megabus.com on its vehicles), provides an intercity scheduled coach service in the United Kingdom operated by Stagecoach Group which started in 2003 and operates 19 UK coach routes serving 41 destinations in England, Scotland and Wales.

Megabusplus

Megabusplus is a coach and train combination with coaches operating feeder services from locations in Yorkshire and East Midlands Parkway railway station where passengers transfer to an East Midlands Trains service to London St Pancras.^[2] Unlike Megatrain, this service is available daily. When engineering works disrupt rail services between London and East Midlands Parkway, the service is run using direct coaches from London Victoria. Feeder services:-

• Burnley - Colne - Nelson - Skipton - Keighley - Huddersfield - Halifax - Bradford - East Midlands Parkway
• Harrogate - York - Castleford - East Midlands Parkway
• Hull - Scunthorpe - East Midlands Parkway

Tickets and fares

Advertised fares start at £1, with a 50p booking fee using a yield management model with the lowest fares being offered to people who book early and on less popular journeys; typically it is only the first six seats are sold at £1.^{[citation needed]} Services often use out-of-town coachway interchanges in order to reduce delays caused by serving interchanges in urban centres for intermediate stops.

Tickets must be purchased in advance via the megabus.com website or by telephone when passengers are given a reservation number which they show the driver when they board. The only services in which tickets can be bought on the vehicle are on a small number of Scottish services. Tickets can be paid for in pounds sterling or euro.

History

The first trial Megabus route was launched in August 2003 and the national network in March 2004.^[3]

In July 2004, the company acquired the Motorvator coach service brand, operating between Glasgow and Edinburgh.^[4]

In January 2005, the company announced that the service frequency of the X5 service between Oxford and Cambridge would double to every 30 minutes. A fleet of 15 refurbished vehicles were introduced at a cost of £1m. The company reported that passenger numbers had been growing at 7-8% per year and that 350,000 passengers were now using the service each year.^[5] The megabus network had carried 1.3 million passengers since it started. The company announced that it had placed an order for 25 new high-specification double-decker Neoplan coaches, each capable of carrying 95 passengers.^[6]

In June 2005, the company launched new routes serving Coventry and Stoke-on-Trent.^[7]

In August 2005, the company introduced a fleet of new double-decker coaches with air-conditioning, toilets and more comfortable seats at a cost of £6.5 million and announced that it had carried 2.6m passengers since startup.^[3]

In September 2005, ComfortDelGro (the owners of Scottish Citylink) and Stagecoach announced that they were entering into a joint venture to provide express coach services within Scotland^[8] effectively ending the competition on Megabus routes within Scotland. Under the terms of the agreement, Stagecoach would acquire 35% of Citylink, in return for certain rights to the Megabus brand in Scotland.^[4] Despite being a minority shareholder, Stagecoach has assumed operational control of Scottish Citylink, with Stagecoach staff taking management roles within the company and Stagecoach subsidiaries replacing subcontract operators on many routes. Some Citylink services have also been sacrificed in favour of the Megabus brand, where operations overlapped.^{[citation needed]}

On 14 November 2005, the Megabus concept was extended to certain rail services, with the introduction of Megatrain between London Waterloo and Southampton Central, and London and Portsmouth and Southsea/Portsmouth Harbour, using a dedicated carriage on selected South West Trains services. This concept has since been extended to the Virgin Trains and East Midlands Trains franchises controlled by Stagecoach, with the latter replacing a Megabus line.

In March 2006, Megabus launched its first Megabus (North America) service.^[9] The Competition Commission started an investigation into the merger of Megabus and Scottish Citylink.

In October 2006, the company placed an order for 45 new 63-seat double-decker coaches which have a toilet and a lift for wheelchair passengers. The cost of the new vehicles was given as £11m. The chief-executive, Brian Souter claimed that “Bus and coach travel is the greener way to travel and far less damaging than airlines" highlighting the CO2 emissions for a London-Glasgow trip by megabus were 7 times lower than by easyjet.^[10]

In October 2006, the competition commission published its report on the merger with Scottish Citylink. They concluded the merger was anti-competitive on the "Saltire Cross" routes in Scotland and required the joint venture to sell certain services.^[11] Various services were subsequently sold to Parks of Hamilton, an unaffiliated operator, in early 2008.^[12]

The logo used for Megabusplus services.

During March 2009, a joint venture between Megabus and the Megatrain described above began under the name of Megabusplus. This involved connections from London to Yorkshire and vice versa by train travel from London to East Midlands Parkway train station and then onward bus travel.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2009, the company started services with the University of the West of England in Bristol from their Frenchay Campus.^[13]

in May 2011 Megabus expands UK budget travel network and offers Irish Ferries Boat Travel to and from Rosslare.

•A new twice daily service between Norwich and Thetford to London

•Improved frequency between Plymouth, Exeter and London

•A new service between London and Swansea and Pembroke Dock with through ferry fares to Rosslare in Ireland.

•A through ferry fare to Rosslare in Ireland also available from Bristol, Newport and Cardiff.

•New once daily connections from Carmarthen to Pembroke Dock (& Rosslare), Swansea, Cardiff, Newport, Bristol and London.

Additional journeys from Perth and Edinburgh to Newcastle, Sheffield and London

•An additional daily journey from Aberdeen to London

•A new link between Edinburgh and Leeds

Stop locations

Megabus serves many towns and cities. For service efficiency they sometimes use coachway interchanges rather than urban bus stations (for example using Meadowhall Interchange on the edge of the city rather than the more central Sheffield Interchange).

City/town	Stop location	Routes at these stops
Aberdeen	Union Square Bus Station, stands 1 and 2
Aviemore	Railway station
Birmingham	The Priory Queensway, Stop PC
Bournemouth	Bournemouth University / The Triangle (Bournemouth town centre)
Bristol	Colston Hall
Cambridge	Parkside, Bay 16	X5
Cardiff	Kingsway (Cardiff Castle) opposite Hilton Hotel	M7; M35
Castleford	Xscape/Junction 32 Retail Outlet
Cheltenham	Promenade	M14
Coventry	Cannon Park (Shopping Centre)	M1
Cwmbran	Cwmbran Shopping Centre
Darlington	Scotch Corner Services
Dundee	Seagate Bus Station
Edinburgh	St. Andrew Square Bus Station
Edinburgh Airport	Jubilee Road
Exeter	Paris Street Coach & Bus Station
Glasgow	Buchanan Bus Station
Gloucester	Station Road	M14
Halifax	Bus Station
Huddersfield	Bus Station
Inverness	Farraline Park Bus Station	M90
Kinross	Park & Ride (Station Road)
Liverpool	Brownlow Hill, by the 051 Club
Leeds	Kirkgate, stop K14	M12, M34
London	Victoria Coach Station, gates 18-20	All routes serving London
Manchester	Shudehill Interchange
Middlesbrough	Bus Station
Newcastle	Neville Street, stop NC96
Newquay	Manor Road Bus Station	M6
Norwich	Norwich Bus Station, Surrey Street
Oxford	Gloucester Green or Water Eaton Park and Ride	X5
Penzance	Bus Station	M6
Pitlochry	Bank of Scotland branch
Perth	Broxden Services (Park & Ride) (some trips use the Perth Bus Station)
Portsmouth	Continental Ferry Port The Hard Interchange, Stop A
Preston	Bus Station
Reading	Reading Coachway	M14
Redruth	Railway Station
Ringwood	Meeting House Lane
Rugby	Bus Depot
Scunthorpe	Tesco, Doncaster Road
Sheffield	Meadowhall Interchange, stop A2	M12, M20
Southampton	Town Quay Solent University, East Park Terrace University of Southampton, Burgess Road
Sunderland	Park Lane Interchange
Swindon	Stratton Park	M14
Winchester	St Catherine's Park and Ride
York	Leeman road (Near York railway station, Royal Mail Collection Depot & Esplanade car park)

List of routes

See also: History of Megabus routes in the United Kingdom

All services are operated by Stagecoach Group subsidiaries unless otherwise noted. Accessible services are noted in the table. Services for special events (such as the British Grand Prix) are not included.

Route		Serves	Started	General road route	Notes
M1		Wolverhampton - Birmingham - Birmingham International Airport - Coventry - London	1 March 2004	M6 motorway, M1 motorway	Wolverhampton and Coventry added from 5 December 2005, when M16 line was folded into this line. Wolverhampton service withdrawn on 14 May 2006. Birmingham International Airport added May 2010.
M2		Bournemouth - Ringwood - Winchester - London	1 March 2004	M3 motorway	Winchester added from 18 April 2005. Change of vehicle required at Winchester for Oxford, Coventry, Birmingham Airport, and Birmingham. Stops in Ringwood for travel to and from Winchester and London only. Alternative weekday and Saturday travel (excluding national holidays) travel available on South West Trains via Megatrain.
M4		Portsmouth - Southampton - Winchester	1 March 2004		Express service from Portsmouth to London until 27 March 2006, when service truncated to Winchester. Change of vehicles to M2 required in Winchester for service to London. Connections also available to the M34. Alternative express service from Portsmouth to London available weekdays & Saturdays (excluding national holidays) on South West Trains via Megatrain.
X5		Oxford - Cambridge	31 January 2005	A34 to Bicester, A4421/A421 to St Neots, A428 to Cambridge	Service operated by Stagecoach East as a Stagecoach Express service, but seats can be booked through Megabus.
M6		Penzance - Camborne - Redruth - Newquay - Plymouth - Paignton - Torquay - Exeter - London	1 March 2004	M5 north then M4 east to London	Extension from Newquay to Penzance added during 2008. Paignton, Torquay, Camborne and Redruth added May 2010
M7		Cardiff - Newport - UWE - London	1 March 2004	M4 motorway	Swansea served until 12 June 2005. UWE added 2008
M8		Dundee - Perth - Glasgow			Dundee - Glasgow service as the M8 is a joint service with Scottish Citylink from 16 February 2006
M9		Aberdeen- Dundee - Perth - Glasgow		A90
M10		Cwmbran - Newport - Bristol - London	1 March 2004	M4 motorway, A4	Cwmbran added from 27 March 2006.
M11		Aberdeen - Dundee - Perth - Glasgow - Preston - Manchester or Birmingham - London	28 June 2004	M6 motorway, M1 motorway to Staples Corner, A41, Park Lane	Change in Perth for: North East, Yorkshire, and East Midlands on the M20. Trips via Birmingham offer travel to Manchester on the X61 via a transfer in Preston.
M12		Newcastle - Sunderland - Middlesbrough - Leeds - Sheffield - London	28 June 2004	A1, M1 motorway, A41	Addition dates: Newcastle: 10 October 2004 Scotch Corner: 10 October 2004 Tibshelf services: 10 October 2004 Middlesbrough: 20 May 2007 Sunderland: 20 May 2007 Withdrawal dates: Chesterfield: 17 April 2005 Scotch Corner: 17 April 2005 (now on the M20) Tibhself services: 26 March 2006
				Stops in Sunderland for service to and from southern points only. In addition, alternate service between Sheffield and London is available weekdays and Saturdays (excluding national holidays) on East Midlands Trains via Megatrain. This route has had several direct and shuttle services from time to time. It is currently one continuous trip. Tibshelf services was used as a transfer station for service for two shuttles: To and from Sheffield and Chesterfield from 10 October 2004 until 17 April 2005, when Chesterfield service was withdrawn. To and from 18 April 2005 to 26 March 2006, a shuttle for service to and from Newcastle and Scotch Corner. After Scotch Corner was added to the M20 line, Megabus stopped serving Tibshelf services.
M14		Cheltenham - Gloucester - Swindon - Reading - London	5 September 2004	M4 motorway	Swindon added from 6 December 2004. Reading added from 20 November 2006. Stops in Gloucester for travel to and from southern points only.
M15		Liverpool - Chester - Birmingham International Airport - London	10 October 2004	Chester added from 13 June 2005, Birmingham International Airport added from may 2010
M17		Edinburgh - Galashiels - Hawick - Preston - Manchester - London	2010	Once a day service introduce in 2010.
M20		Inverness - Perth - Kinross - Ferrytoll - Edinburgh - Newcastle - Scotch Corner - Sheffield - London	27 March 2006	Park Lane, A41 to Staples Corner, M1 motorway to junction 34	At busy times, the M20 is split into two services, the main service runs directly between London and Edinburgh, with the 'Service Bus' running to the stops in between as required. NOTE 1: Customers from north of Ferrytoll can only travel as far as Sheffield. Inverness customers must transfer to the M9 (becomes the M11) in Perth to access London. Kinross customers should use the Ferrytoll stop to access London. NOTE 2: Customers from London can only travel as far as Kinross. Use the M11 (becomes the M9 in Glasgow) to travel between Perth and London.
M34		Bradford-Leeds - Manchester - Birmingham - Coventry - Oxford - Winchester -Southampton - Portsmouth	28 April 2008	Northbound service under M4 to Winchester. Change of vehicle required in Winchester for Ringwood and Bournemouth. Leeds added on 19 May 2008. Bradford added to the route during 2010.
M35		Cardiff - Cwmbran - Birmingham - Coventry - Manchester - Leeds - Middlesbrough - Sunderland - Newcastle	October 2009
M36		Paignton - Exeter - Bristol - Birmingham - Birmingham International Airport - Manchester - Leeds - Newcastle	May 2010
M90		Inverness - Perth - Edinburgh		Extended to Inverness from 23 August 2004.
900		Edinburgh - Glasgow		Joint service with Citylink. Numbered M8 until 5 September 2004, and a joint service with Motorvator until 20 November 2005, when the Motorvator brand was withdrawn.
Oxford Tube		Oxford - London	4 August 2003	Service operated by Stagecoach Oxford as Oxford Tube, but seats can be booked through Megabus. Formerly the M40 until 14 November 2004.

Fleet

The Megabus fleet is normally easily identifiable, with the megabus.com name on the front and sides in yellow against a blue base and the Megabus logo on the left side of the coach (facing forward) and rear of the bus.^{[citation needed]}

Currently, accessible coaches are operated on Megabus routes between England and Wales, the M9 and M90 in Scotland, and the M20.^{[citation needed]}

Vehicles are owned and maintained by various Stagecoach subsidiaries that lie within the route network. When branded vehicles are unavailable then other Stagecoach service vehicles can be used or coaches sub hired in with the case of Coaches from Coachmasters of Rochdale run on Manchester routes,Stagecoach service vehicles can rang from standard double deck types such as the Volvo Olympian and Dennis Trident, through to Volvo B10M single deckers or even Dennis Dart SLF midibuses. Red Stagecoach London double deckers from Leyton were often seconded to Megabus motorway work until the sale of that company to Macquarie Bank.^{[citation needed]}But when this is the case theres no on board tolets so rest stops are given on route.

Fleet history

Jonckheere-bodied articulated coach in Manchester en route from London to Glasgow.

Initially, most of the routes used buses designed for short local public transport journeys that had neither toilet nor luggage space, and each passenger was allowed only one bag.

Leyland Olympian 94-seat double decker tri-axle buses with toilets were used later on. These had been built for service with Hong Kong Citybus in 1990/1991, which Stagecoach purchased in 1999, but sold again in 2003. The vehicles were retained however, and were used on Megabus routes.^{[citation needed]} A number of mid-life Volvo B10M coaches temporarily operated various routes, mainly in the South of England, until sufficient Olympians had been prepared for service. Gradually, most of these coaches were taken off Megabus work and used by Stagecoach elsewhere. However, the type made a reappearance at the end of 2005, when they became the mainstays on the services from London to Birmingham and London to Nottingham/Chesterfield.^{[citation needed]}

Newer 'high-frills' bendy coaches, with both toilets and reclining seats, were used for the longer journeys between London and Scotland, but these were replaced early in 2005.^{[citation needed]}

In Summer 2004, Stagecoach received a batch of Neoplan Skyliners for use on the Oxford Tube service. This displaced a number of 68 seat five-year-old double-deck Jonckheere-bodied MAN coaches, some of which went into service with Megabus on cross-border services and on services wholly within Scotland.

Stagecoach ordered another batch of Neoplan Skyliners in 2004, which went into service on Megabus in early 2005. These replaced the articulated coaches used on services between London and Scotland, and also Olympians on some of the other longer distance services.

In October 2006, Stagecoach announced an £11m order for 45 Volvo B12BT 15-metre coaches with Plaxton Panther coachwork for their UK Megabus operation. The tri-axle coaches were the longest rigid vehicles in the UK on their introduction to service in February 2007, and the first of their kind to be built in Britain. The 63-seat vehicles were fully accessible, with wheelchair lifts fitted.

In September 2009, Megabus took delivery of 4 brand new Van Hool Astromega double deck coaches which are currently used between London and Scotland, via Manchester ^[14]

See also

• Coach transport in the United Kingdom
• National Express Coaches
• Megabus (United States)
• Megatrain
• EasyBus

References

1. ^ Megabus UK HQ
2. ^ http://www.megabus.com/uk/help/megabusplus.php?news=megabusplus
3. ^ ^{a b} "Megabus.com offers 100,000 free seats to boost visitors to London after terrorist bombings". Megabus. http://www.megabus.com/uk/press_releases.php?pid=8. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Completed joint venture between Stagecoach Bus Holdings Limited and Braddell plc in relation to Megabus.com, Motorvator and Scottish Citylink brands". http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/Mergers_home/decisions/2006/stagecoach. Retrieved 2010-02-17. 
5. ^ "Fares from £1 as Stagecoach doubles Oxford to Cambridge express coach links". megabus. http://www.megabus.com/uk/press_releases.php?pid=2. Retrieved 2010-02-17. 
6. ^ "megabus.com goes upmarket with new luxury coaches for Scotland". Megabus. http://www.megabus.com/uk/press_releases.php?pid=1. Retrieved 2010-02-17. 
7. ^ "megabus.com announces new routes to Stoke-on-Trent and Coventry". Megabus. http://www.megabus.com/uk/press_releases.php?pid=4. Retrieved 2010-02-17. 
8. ^ "Megabus.com Scotland / Motorvator/ Scottish Citylink joint venture". Megabus. http://www.megabus.com/uk/press_releases.php?pid=9. Retrieved 2010-02-17. 
9. ^ "Megabus.com arrives in North America - 22 March 2006". Megabus. http://www.megabus.com/uk/press_releases.php?pid=2. Retrieved 2010-02-17. 
10. ^ "£11million invested in new megabus.com coach fleet". Megabus. http://www.megabus.com/uk/press_releases.php?pid=10. Retrieved 2010-02-17. 
11. ^ "Stagecoach/Scottish Citylink inquiry". Competition commission. http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/2006/516citylink.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-17. 
12. ^ "(CC) Scottish Citylink completes sale of services". WhitehallPages.net. 2008-02-06. http://www.whitehallpages.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=72282. Retrieved 2008-07-15. 
13. ^ "megabus.com introduce University of West England in Bristol to their network". megabus. http://www.megabus.com/uk/press_releases.php?pid=6. Retrieved 2010-02-17. 
14. ^ http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/media/press/pr2009/2009-08-21/

• BBC News Online article [1]
• BBC New Online article [2]

External links

• Megabus.com website
• Scottish Citylink website